Author Topic: Major change to life in the DC area  (Read 290 times)

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Offline imref

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Major change to life in the DC area
« Topic Start: February 22, 2023, 09:02:46 PM »
WTOP is changing things up: Starting Monday, February 27: Sports at :25 and :55, money and business at :10 and :40. Traffic & weather remains on the 8's.

Previously sports were at :15 and :45, and money/business at :25 and :55.

You have the weekend to prepare yourselves.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #1: February 22, 2023, 09:19:11 PM »
I thought you were going to say no more weather on the 8s. That’ would be a step too far

Offline imref

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #2: February 22, 2023, 09:25:31 PM »
I thought you were going to say no more weather on the 8s. That’ would be a step too far

My house would be on the market tomorrow if that changed.  I still miss Bob Marbourg.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #3: February 22, 2023, 10:59:22 PM »
We survived the extinctions of Hechingers and Roy Rogers

Offline imref

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #4: February 22, 2023, 11:02:15 PM »
We survived the extinctions of Hechingers and Roy Rogers

Roy’s is still around.

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #5: February 23, 2023, 08:12:38 AM »
Roy’s is still around.

There's one within reasonable walking distance of my neighborhood (just over a mile) and two others in this general part of Fairfax County (one on Route 1 at the corner of Jeff Todd Way and another on Belle View Boulevard in the shopping center at the corner of Fort Hunt Road).

Here's the complete list of locations, which does not include highway service areas because those are operated by a different company.

They just reintroduced the "Buckaroo Club" for kids under age 10. We were members of that back in the 1970s. There is now a different app-based points program for adults.

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #6: February 23, 2023, 08:47:02 AM »
My wife and I went to walk around the now dead Lakeforest Mall in Gaithersburg Sunday. The last anchor store is giving up, and there's literally nothing in the mall anymore - maybe five discount storefronts among of the hundred-plus closed ones. Demolition starts in April. There is a "dead malls" video about it on YouTube - from about a year ago. Demonstrates how long ago rigor set in.

When I moved to the area in '79, no friends, not much to do, I used to drive to that mall a lot - for any excuse really. The place was packed, fights over parking spaces around Christmas,never a dull moment. Hechts, Woodies, even a Britches.

We rode the glass elevator for the last time. There were a bunch of other (old) people strolling around pointing to what used to be there. Oh well. Life is change.  There *is* still a Roys adjacent to the mall though.  :hysterical:

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #7: February 23, 2023, 09:20:50 AM »
15 / 45 every hour was a prominent spot. It's part of a trend where sports scores and highlights have been somewhat deemphasized in media.  Channel 4 got rid of its sports anchor a couple of years ago.  Basically the regular anchor may toss it to a sports reporter at a location, but I don't think there is so much of a general wrap anymore.  Maybe the reporter will mention another story not from the location (e.g., Finlay saying the Nats score when he is out a Commie HQ), but I'm not even sure of that.  This is spreading to other cities.

Oh, I still have a Britches polo-style shirt I wear.  I got rid of a cotton sweater that bled maroon continuously. Britches died while I was in Boston, around 1997-2003, right?

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #8: February 23, 2023, 09:25:25 AM »
15 / 45 every hour was a prominent spot. It's part of a trend where sports scores and highlights have been somewhat deemphasized in media.  Channel 4 got rid of its sports anchor a couple of years ago.  Basically the regular anchor may toss it to a sports reporter at a location, but I don't think there is so much of a general wrap anymore.  Maybe the reporter will mention another story not from the location (e.g., Finlay saying the Nats score when he is out a Commie HQ), but I'm not even sure of that.  This is spreading to other cities.

Oh, I still have a Britches polo-style shirt I wear.  I got rid of a cotton sweater that bled maroon continuously. Britches died while I was in Boston, around 1997-2003, right?

Feels like it was earlier than 1997, but maybe.

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #9: February 23, 2023, 09:40:28 AM »
Feels like it was earlier than 1997, but maybe.
Mr Wiki says 2003, but it had started its decline in the early 90s. 

Oddly, there is still something in Warrenton that pops up when you google Britches Clothing Store.  Britches Great Outdoors / Warthog. https://warthog.vip/  I look at it and say, "still my style."  I need some new flannels and a rugby shirt.

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #10: February 23, 2023, 09:43:37 AM »
The last Britches stores closed around 2003. Apparently a new store in Warrenton is resurrecting the name—someone owns the rights to the company's trademarks and such and is trying to bring it back. I don't know anything about it other than that it's located on Main Street in Warrenton.

I found a couple of old Britches shirts in our master bedroom closet when we cleaned it out last month (we had it rebuilt this past Monday). I know I kept one of them, a US flag rugby shirt I wear on 9-11 if the weather isn't too hot. I believe I finally donated my old W.T. Woodson rugby shirt (it was white with two blue stripes and the blue name "Woodson") because I hadn't worn it in at least 20 years. Not sure whether I donated the short-sleeved shirt I had. The armpits were not in great shape and I'm not sure I would have donated a shirt with beat-up pits.

Offline GburgNatsFan

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #11: February 23, 2023, 10:17:11 AM »
Yep. Britches BGO was in Lakeforest. The fancy Britches was down at Montgomery Mall in the 270 crotch. There was a Hudson Bay Outfitters (later Hudson Trail Outfitters)  in Lakeforest too. Were they in Virginia? I think their original store was in Kensington MD.

Those are some expensive flannels. I'll go back to Tractor Supply, thanks. :D


Mr Wiki says 2003, but it had started its decline in the early 90s. 

Oddly, there is still something in Warrenton that pops up when you google Britches Clothing Store.  Britches Great Outdoors / Warthog. https://warthog.vip/  I look at it and say, "still my style."  I need some new flannels and a rugby shirt.

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #12: February 23, 2023, 10:45:17 AM »
There used to be a Hudson Trail Outfitters near Fairfax Circle. I recall it being in two different locations at various times—at one point it was in the strip mall on the south side of Route 29 west of the circle and later it was in a now-demolished strip mall on the north side of Route 29 east of the circle in the space where there was once a very large-screened movie theater (I remember seeing, at a minimum, Return of the Jedi and The Last Starfighter in that theater)—later on, there was a Staples in the space next to where Hudson Trail had been. I remember those stores pretty well from my Boy Scout days because we frequently shopped there and at the now-defunct Appalachian Outfitters in Herndon.

I seem to recall the reason for the name change from Hudson Bay Outfitters was a trademark dispute with the Hudson's Bay Company, which operates a chain of department stores in Canada.



This thread makes me note the following article y'all might find interesting. I can't read it due to a paywall, but maybe some of you can view it:

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/print-edition/2015/07/10/washingtons-bygone-brands-from-woodies-to.html

Offline JCA-CrystalCity

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #13: February 23, 2023, 10:56:34 AM »
Yep. Britches BGO was in Lakeforest. The fancy Britches was down at Montgomery Mall in the 270 crotch. There was a Hudson Bay Outfitters (later Hudson Trail Outfitters)  in Lakeforest too. Were they in Virginia? I think their original store was in Kensington MD.

As for Hudson Bay/ Hudson Trail, I bought my Fuji hybrid there in 2014 or 2015. They were in Pentagon Row behind the Fashion Center at Pentagon City.

Offline KnorrForYourMoney

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #14: February 23, 2023, 11:35:54 AM »
I grew up in the 90s and I have zero recollection of Britches, for whatever that says.  And I do remember Hecht's and Montgomery Ward.

Then again, I lived in the boonies of Murdaland, so experiences may vary.  My mall trips were usually to Annapolis or Waldorf.

Roy’s is still around.

They downsized a freakton but then started to make a modest comeback like 10-15 years ago.  Still aren't nearly as many around as there used to be.

Offline 1995hoo

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #15: February 23, 2023, 12:17:24 PM »
The issue with Roy Rogers is that Hardee's bought the majority, but not all, of their locations and converted them to Hardee's in a move that was a massive flop. Reports at the time said Hardee's wanted to add fried chicken to their menu and decided that buying Roy Rogers from Marriott, which was looking to leave the fast food space, would be a good way to do that. Of course the conversion was massively unpopular around here and led to the demise of most of the Roy Rogers chain when Hardee's subsequently sold it off. But the few stores that were not a part of that series of transactions were always owned by someone else and that's how the chain survived. I don't know all the details of how that happened, and obviously several of the ones in the toll road service areas survived as well for similar reasons.

Offline imref

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #16: February 23, 2023, 12:23:58 PM »
A new Roy's opened up a few years ago at the intersection of Route 29 and I-66 in Gainesville.

It is fascinating to see how a post about WTOP changing their times has evolved.

Now I want a Double-R burger.

Offline HalfSmokes

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #17: February 24, 2023, 04:33:52 PM »
Hardees still has the best bacon egg and cheeses

Offline imref

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Re: Major change to life in the DC area
« Reply #18: February 24, 2023, 06:48:51 PM »
Hardees still has the best bacon egg and cheeses

DD's breakfast sandwiches are decent, and if you have their app you'll usually get either a sandwich or a coffee for free.